Compare performersNikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Scheherazade, III, opening: Stokowski and Monteux
Scheherazade, Op. 35 — III, opening passage
Stokowski in 1934 and Monteux in 1942 conduct the violin melody that opens the lovers’ movement.
Recordings in
this comparison
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Leopold Stokowski, Philadelphia Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski
The strings play the melody in broad phrases, with audible slides between notes.
Pierre Monteux, San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux; Naoum Blinder, violin
Monteux keeps the tempo moving through the lovers’ music, under the long phrases in the violins.
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Each strip shows changes in volume within one recording.
Two violin sections begin the young lovers’ movement of Scheherazade, playing in G major above held lower strings. Stokowski’s Philadelphia players slide between notes and take the tune slowly. Monteux’s San Francisco orchestra takes it at a faster tempo, with a brisker pulse beneath the long phrases.
Tempo map
Time taken compared with Leopold Stokowski, Philadelphia Orchestra: above 1×, the performer takes longer over the same music; below it, less time.
- Leopold Stokowski, Philadelphia Orchestra · reference
- Pierre Monteux, San Francisco Symphony
Passages compared
Each version plays in card order, for up to 12 seconds of reference music or until the next marked passage, whichever comes first.
- 01
Opening melody, violins
0:20 in the referenceBoth violin sections play the melody together. Long notes lead into short runs above held chords in the lower strings.
- 02
Quick notes within the melody
0:40 in the referenceThe violins play quick notes, then return to the longer notes of the melody. The lower strings continue their quiet accompaniment.
- 03
Crescendo and diminuendo, violins
0:58 in the referenceThe violin phrase becomes fuller and louder, then quietens as the melody continues.
Length of each recording
- Leopold Stokowski, Philadelphia Orchestra3:47
- Pierre Monteux, San Francisco Symphony8:15
These times include the lead-in and final fade. Cuts, repeats and disc-side breaks also affect a recording’s length.
Recording notes
Leopold Stokowski, Philadelphia Orchestra
The strings play the melody in broad phrases, with audible slides between notes.
Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski
12 November 1934
Pierre Monteux, San Francisco Symphony
Monteux keeps the tempo moving through the lovers’ music, under the long phrases in the violins.
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Monteux; Naoum Blinder, violin
3–4 March 1942
Further reading
- Stokowski — session and first-side identification
- Monteux recording — Commons attribution and CC0
- Monteux upstream transfer — Bob Varney, public-domain release
- Third movement score — opening string melody
- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb, July 2018: Stokowski’s relaxed 1934 performance and string portamento
- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb, July 2004: Monteux’s forward-moving 1942 performance
How the recordings are matched
The matching follows sequences of pitches, using a method called dynamic time warping. Every recording is mapped to the reference, so switching between two versions goes through that shared clock. Where several reference times match one point, the middle time is used.
- Pierre Monteux, San Francisco Symphony: match score 0.874. Matched passages available.
Switching stays within the matched span, and trimmed recordings keep their original clock times. Match scores describe similarity in the sound.